Corporate Social Responsibility

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2.01.2008 ET

Source:	Harvard Business Review
News Categories:	Corporate Governance
	CSR - General

Don't Bother with the "Green" Consumer

By Steve Bishop

It seems so logical on the face of it. A company wishing to go green should focus on the green consumer, right? Not so. Marketing to the green consumer has proved difficult, even downright dangerous, for companies large and small. Here's why.

Established companies fear alienating their base of mainstream consumers by appealing to the green consumer, and rightly so. The majority of consumers seek to satisfy their personal needs before considering those of the planet. Green for green's sake products often don't meet the basic needs that most people require from their products. Take hemp clothing, for example. If green for green's sake products could go mainstream, we'd all be wearing hemp sweaters and be happy about it.

Small, streamlined green brands that truly appeal to the environmentalist consumer can't reach the mainstream. Those companies get stuck in a green ghetto—virtuous, but limited in scope.

The result is that most companies are stuck somewhere in the middle—and that turns out to be a very dangerous place indeed. We've all watched a company take a traditional product and tout its green virtues. When the approach doesn't work all that well, they simply take out a bigger megaphone. Hence the green-washing epidemic we have today.

So while the traditional marketing answer to the question, Should we market to the green consumer? has been yes, the better answer is this: Instead of focusing on a green niche, focus on green behaviors that everyone can aspire to.

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Harvard Business Review

Corporate Governance

CSR - General

Don't Bother with the "Green" Consumer

By Steve Bishop

Corporate Governance

CSR - General

Corporate Governance

CSR - General